Over heating ??

[ve3oky]

With all the over heating threads the past few days maybe we should get some common suggestions, tech, and info all posted under one thread ..... just a thought

[RITTER]

Keeep your fluid levels good and check hoses

A good, at home, coolant system flush wouldn't hurt either

[rustyroger]

With all the over heating threads the past few days maybe we should get some common suggestions, tech, and info all posted under one thread ..... just a thought

I agree, I have found the #1 cause on American cars over here is simply a bad radiator,if the radiator is plugged, scaled up or has rotten fins it can't dissipate heat properly.
Adding extra fans, fitting lower value thermostats or worse still removing it, water wetter etc are all band aids that won't fix the root cause of overheating issues.
Removing fan cowls is another cause I've come across a few times, and several times I have known people swapping over to a bigger or more powerful engine without considering how to deal with the extra heat it will generate.
A gasoline engine is a heat engine, the energy it produces (hp at the flywheel) is directly proprtional to to the amount of gas it burns assuming it is correctly set up to work efficiently, it's one of the laws of physics.

Of course a large book could be written outlining all the possible overheating causes but if your engine can't handle long distance at speed, gets hot towing or seems to mysteriously use a bit of water without any leakage signs a new radiator is the most likely cause.

When our cars were new they ran fine with the factory cooling system, if your car is unmodified and in reasonable shape but overheats the fundamental cause needs to be fixed, the band aids I mentioned above are addressing the symptoms, not the cause.

Roger.

[olds307 and 403]

Never assume a new part is good. I had a bad high flow thermostat, cooled fine at first. Then my car got hotter and hotter, seemed to be flowing out the top hose. Ran slightly hot in town but would floor the gauge at high way speed. Seemed to be building stupid pressure. Then I noticed half the rad was cold, made sense, almost no flow. I had endless cooling issues, go through everything when an issue comes up. That means air deflectors not removed or damaged, fins on condensor straight and blown out, clean large capacity rad, 7 blade clutch fan working and good shroud or DECENT electric fans, good high flow thermostat(Stewart Warner), good hd water pump, tight belts,all there and NO under drive pulleys. I basically cooked my 403 first time out, due to a POS rad and under drive pulleys.